This one in Ballyroe Lower, County Limerick, does something rather different. It occupies poorly drained flat grassland, the kind of ground that tends to discourage casual exploration, and it carries an additional peculiarity in its form: the stone is square in plan, an unusual geometric quality that sets it apart from the more typical rounded or irregular uprights found across Ireland, and its top is broken, leaving it shorter than it would originally have stood.

Standing stones are among the most enigmatic monument types in the Irish archaeological record. Dating them with precision is notoriously difficult; they were erected across a broad sweep of prehistory and occasionally into the early medieval period, and without excavation they give little away. Their purposes are debated, with suggestions ranging from territorial markers to ritual sites to aids for astronomical observation. What brought this particular example to wider attention was more local and recent. It was identified by Billy O'Brien of Kilfinnane, and the record was compiled by Caimin O'Brien, drawing on details provided by James and Billy O'Brien. The record was uploaded in August 2020, suggesting this is a site that entered the formal archaeological conversation relatively recently, which may explain why it remains largely unvisited.

The flat, waterlogged ground around the stone means that footwear matters here. Even in drier months, the grassland in this part of County Limerick can retain moisture, and after any prolonged rain the approach becomes genuinely awkward. The stone's square cross-section is best appreciated by walking around it fully rather than viewing it from a single angle, since the geometry only becomes apparent when you can compare its faces. The broken top is immediately obvious but worth examining closely, as the fracture surface can indicate whether the damage is old weathering or something more recent. There are no formal visitor facilities, no signage, and no marked path; this is simply a field, a stone, and the particular quietness that tends to settle around things very old.